Trip Report: Climb The Carew / Fight For Air Stairclimb

Carew Tower

Cincinnat, OH

February 28, 2010

"And now for something totally different, or, What is it like to do a Stair
Climb"

Prologue: What in the world has gotten into you now?!?

It's true I let my weight and girth get away from me, as readers of my trip
reports know. November 1, 2009 was closing day for the amusement park season,
and I also stepped on a scale, saw a milestone number, screamed, and resolved
I needed to do something. I started by making serious changes to my diet,
then one day a co-worker asked me if I would like to join the daily stair
climb. I thought, why not I'll try it out. Our office building is 9 floors,
and truth be told it wasn't that awful. So, I started doing stairs once a
day, then we started doing it twice a day.

All was going well until we got wind of the Climb the Carew event. It was
one of those things we instantly took a liking to. By January we were registered,
then our group got fanatical, going from two stair climbs a day to doing
the stairs twice, or more, each time. Truth be told, by mid-Ferburary, we
had reached stair burn out, but our commitment to the Carew Tower climb kept
us going.

Pre-Climb Activities

The people who run Climb the Carew are very good with emails. You get a welcome
email as soon as you reigster, quickly followed by a packet full of fundraising
materials in the mail. Event registration is on a sliding scale, the earlier
you register the less you pay, then each climber is expected to raise at
least $100 over and above the registration fee. So I hit up the family and
friends and wound up exceeding my $100 goal. Periodic emails came with
fundraising advice, and then the notice about packet pick up. We decided
to do the Friday pick up Carew Tower. Each packet contains the typical materials:
an event t-shirt, bib number, last minute instructions, a discount parking
coupon, as well as some promotional materials from event sponsors. Like several
teams, we decided to replace the official event shirt with our own team shirt.

Day of Climb

According to our packets, we had been assigned a 11:43 start time, and were
instructed to be checked in by 10:43. SO, I was up by 9, dressed but took
as little as I could so as not to be weighted down by too much. We made our
way down to Tower Place, which is a shopping mall inside the Carew Tower.
We deicded to park in the official parking garage, which was the Tower Place
garage, and here the event organizers had posted a lot of signs leading you
practically all the way from your parking space to the check in tables. I
did get a chuckle when I saw the sign in the garage that said basically:
"Carew Tower Stair Climb - Take elevator to 2nd floor"

The signs led us through Tower Place which is a shopping mall built inside
what was one one of those giant old time downtown department stores. From
Tower Place it was a short flight of stairs down to the Hilton's lobby, then
a longer flight down to the Carew Tower Arcade, a grand art deco masterpiece
of a foyer in the center of the first floor of the building. For the uninitiated,
the Carew tower is 49 flights of stairs to the roof, of which the climb only
involved the first 45, owing partly due to the fact that is where main elevator
service in the building ends, and only one tiny stairwell continues up from
that point.

I enter the grand foyer and head right to the registration table. It's a
real simple affiar, they check your name off a list, collect your pledge
packet, and have you sign the typical event liability waiver. The whole check
in process took about 60 seconds. Then I walked around the foyer where booths
were set up, the typical event stuff: radio station booth, which was providing
music, a booth from some juice drink company, an education booth on the American
Lung Association, a political action booth for the charity, a banner to be
signed by all the climbers, and a booth where you can preregister today for
next years event, for only $10. On the other side of the lobby they had a
team photo area, as well as the first water station, so you can make sure
you are hydrated before starting the climb. The water station had signage
telling you what types of race services you can expect along the way up the
tower. Branching out from the lobby, one end had an area for chair massages,
and the other had the official starting area. Down underneath the lobby (yes
more stairs) climbers had access to the towers gym for any warm up/ cool
down needs, as well as areas for gear check, restrooms, and a banquet room
for the post climb reception.

It wasn't too much later I spotted Mark and Teri from our group. Teri's husband
Dave was there and became the official coat and bag holder for the group.
Some time later we saw Brett, Christa and her son Chris check in and they
joined us. While waiting to climb, we had lots of time to mingle in the lobby
where we met a large group of firefighters who had just done the climb in
full gear. Their time? 22 minutes, and they remarked that was slow. Another
group, though not as large, were some military types with backpacks. Don't
worry there were plenty of normal people there too, and it looked like even
some families getting in on the act. Of course you get to see a fair number
of people who are in top physical shape that remind you how out of shape
you are.

Around 11:30 we stop past the water station, then find a place to wait. Feelings
in the mood ranged from aprehension about what we had gotten our selves into,
some fear over poential embarassment and can we do it, to slap happy giddyness,
to high level energy. As I mentioned, they use a stager start, where they
send one person in about every 10 seconds. To make sure they keep interval,
they have two rope lanes leading from the door to the stairs, that way they
can have one chute filled with the climbers the starter is proessing and
have the next group in the other chute waiting to go. When they call the
11:43 group we are over there like we were shot out of a cannon. Once the
group is in the chute, a race official comes down the line writing your official
start time on the tear off portion of your bib. I was first in our chute
so they wrote 11:43:00 on mine, 11:43:10 on the person behind me, and so
on. Right before you go through the door they have another photographer.
The starter is guarding the door into the stairs, and has both a hand held
stop watch along with the big time display. When your official time cycles
around on the display, he sends you into the stairwell as he punches your
bib number into the race timing system.

The Climb Begins!!!

At the Carew, the stairwell is entirely done in battleship gray, the walls
and the stairs themselves. The doors on the landings are mostly black but
there a few minor variations there. Remember the stairs aren't usually a
visual focal point of a building. All along the stairs they have signs with
trivia related to the ALA, signs that tell you how far you are from the next
water station, but most clever of all signs that look to have been done by
school children and others offering encouragement as you make the clinb.
In the Carew you exit the lobby through an art deco door, and are immediately
trust into the no nonsense industrial looks of the stairs. I briefly consider
going up a floor or two then letting the rest of our team catch up, but thought
whats the fun in that, besides knowing my own abilities and that of the group,
we'd probably bunch up naturally anyway.

I noted no door for the second floor, and thought, I wonder just how many
flights comprise the climb to the second floor given the unusually high ceilings
in the lobby. The first door I spot is labeled "3". I think we all got a
chuckle when just after passing Door #3 we see the sign "You're Almost There!"
The first 7 flights are your standard switchback flights of stairs common
in most public buildings. The next point of interest is the 4th floor, here
the landing door is open and here you pass the first First Aid station. I
have to think this is the planned escape hatch for those who got peer pressured
into this, or thought "That sounds really neat" until you actually start
to do it. I know I have heard from several people who have said they wanted
to climb the Carew when they were young, then again it could be there for
the unfortunate case when you get started and something cramps up and its
just not going to happen. It was reassuring while we were waiting that the
EMT crews on stand by in the elevator lobby did not have to respond to any
calls while we had been waiting.

Things get unusual on 7, here instead of the double switchback, you go up
one or two steps then a long flat section, then turn around and do one long
solid flight of stairs up to 8. Here the wierdness continues as you come
out of the first stairwell, go down a short hall and into another stairwell.
Not like you had a choice as one ends and the other begins. Not a real long
hall more like possibly wrapping around an elevator shaft or support column.

These are the stairs you will be taking from 8 to 21. Again the usual double
switchback, odd for us in that it travels in the opposite direction as the
ones at work. The next point of interest is the 10th floor, here the door
out of the stairwell is open, a volunteer stands at the door handing out
water, and behind the volunteer is the second first aid station as well as
a building security guard who is there to escort anybody that wishes to quit
to the elevators. It's not a written rule, but I would hope moral code commands
that if you were to see somebody down or struggling that you would alert
the volunteers at the next service area. This all worked out well for us
since our own building is 9 floors, and its 9 flights ot stairs from 1-10.
Thus right when we would usually be ending our climb, we are getting handed
a cup of water. We don't get that kind of service at work. We take a couple
moments to rest and then start what we dubbed the second rep.

Okay, the first 10 floors were a novelty, it's a new building, and all, the
second set of ten floors is where you have to start to bear down and work.
The next point of interest is floor 18, again the door off the landing is
open, this time there is the volunteer passing out water, and they also have
an oxygen tank, in case anyody needs that from doing exercise at a higher
altitude than they are used to, not to mention stair climbing is no joke,
it will take it out of you. 18thfloor is just one floor short of a "double
climb" in our building, and look there is another friendly volunteer handing
us another cup of water. At least we don't have to do the 9 flghts back down...
Don't laugh, once you've been going up enough flights, down is actually harder!

The wierdness resumes on the 21st floor. The 21st floor is like halftime,
okay its not really halftime, ita's a few floors short of half but on this
floor, the stiarwell you are in ends. You enter the 21st floor and walk down
a long hallway on the 21st floor. Here you get a service area deluxe - they
have just about anything you would want: water, oxygen, gatorade, first aid,
restrooms, and it's an authoirzed exit point for those that need that. After
your halftime stop on 21, it is into a different stairwell to resume the
climb up Mt. Carew. I was glad for this rest stop because I was starting
to really feel it.

Here the stairs go up in a much more confined space, and start going in something
like sets of 6-3-6. Call me nuts, maybe it was the halftime on 21, but the
trip up to the next part of the climb, up to the next service area on 30
was easier than the first 21. Besides 21-30 is 9 flights, that makes rep
3. Again just we would normally be finishing a set of nine flights, a friendly
volunteer is there with more water. 30 is your next chance at a security
escort out if you need it. At this floor, I took advantage of the restrooms
provided before continuing on.

From here the interval between rest stops keeps getting shorter. The next
one is 36, at 36 while I was getting my water, I noticed Christa sitting
down to rest a bit. We stayed a minute or so to make sure she would be okay
before continuing our ascent up Mt. Carew. We also noted somebody not in
our group taking advanage of the oxygen tank provided on 36.

From here on out the water stations become every three flooors, we totally
skipped the ones at 39 and 42, The water stop at 36 made 45 the final 9 floor
rep. From here the thrill of finishing kicked in and you may say we caught
our second wind.

Somone evil designed the stairs for the 44th and 45th floors, I swear they
got a lot steeperand the stairwell widens back out again for some reason.
One of the last things they tell you before you enter the stiars back down
on 1 is NOT to stop as soon as you get to the top of the 45th floor. Continue
to walk until you are out of the stairwell, down the hall and have passed
the finish line taped on the carpet. When you come out of the stairs on 45
they have used yellow caution tape to block the stairs up to 46 as well as
the small auxilliary elevator that leads to the observation deck, lest you
be confused about where to stop climbing and which elevators to use to return
to the lobby. You continue along the hallway on 45 and cross the finsih line
just as you enter the elevator waiting area. Here a race official tears off
the stub on your bib, notes the time, and spikes the stub while another official
punches your bib number into another console for the race timing system.
Round one more corner and its into the cheering of the finish line crew
congratulating you. Here they have one last first aid and oxygen station,
then the finish line crew hands out medals as you enter the elevator waiting
area. While you wait for the elevator they have a hospitality table with
water and gatorade setup.

The Summit of Mt. Carew!

When we first started talking about doing this stair climb, we had no idea
how long it would take us. We were half joking about it taking an hour, we
though 30 minutes would be way too ambitious, and were guessing about 45
minutes. Imagine our shock when we found out we finished right around the
15 minute mark. Okay, my time was 16:55, and if we knew we could actually
be that good for time, we wouldn't have rested so long at the rest stops.
Our best climber, Mark did it in 12:20.

The elevator waiting area is not large and they have signs posted to enjoy
the moment, but please make it only a moment up top and to use the next available
elevator to return to the main lobby. Of course we waited up top for our
entire group to finish, yes even Christa who arrived only a few moments later.
We snapped a group photo of us up top, then headed into the elevator. In
an effort to maintain building access control, they were using elevator operators
to ensure everybody went to the lobby, and voluteers went to their assigned
floors and everything.

Let me tell you, the ride down in the elevator was a LOT faster than the
climb up. When you exit the elevators, you see the EMT crews on standby,
as well as more volunteers congratulating you and pointing the way to the
lobby, where you come out of the elevator area right across from the doors
to the stairs where you started. Here you can offer encouragement to those
who are just about to begin their climb.

Post Climb

Then it was down to the banquet hall in the basement. The reception had all
kinds of breakfast foods mostly sponosred by First Watch, so they had fruit
cups, siesta Key cocktails (think a mix of fruit, yogurt and granola), muffins,
OJ, coffee. Vitamin Water had a table passing out free bottles. Did I mention
the climb down from the lobby to the basement was atually worse on the muscles
at first than the climb up. Muscle memory, they tell me is to blame for that.

After celebrating, we returned to the lobby for a team photo, and then all
headed our separate ways proud of a job well done.